


An Alliance

by violasarecool



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Korriban, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 09:04:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16115201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: when nairoim meets another sith apprentice in a korriban tomb, their first instinct is to leave them behind as quickly as possible. the other sith, however, seems to have other ideas.





	An Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> nairoim's mine; kyllinan belongs to [venndaai](http://venndaai.tumblr.com/)

Sunlight streamed in through the entrance of the tomb, bright searing light that Nairoim immediately regretted looking at as they whirled around to strike a glancing blow off the thick hide of a Shyrack. They blinked, hard, spots dancing before their eyes, and as they faltered, the creature swept forward, pointed teeth snapping at their arm. Nairoim gave a growl of frustration.

Across the other side of the temple opening, another Sith was locked in their own fight, backed up almost flat against the dais Nairoim had been attempting to access before the Shyracks swarmed from the ceiling. _Damn beasts infest this place like rats,_ Nairoim thought, as they gave up on their saber entirely, instead raising their hand to send an arc of lightning through the Shyrack's body, leaving it to fall, convulsing, to the floor.

The other Sith's head turned at the sound, one piercing red eye visible beneath a curtain of deep red hair. _Your lucky day,_ Nairoim thought before thrusting their hand out with an impatient motion, sending the other beast crashing against the opposite wall. They strode toward the dais, not breaking stride as the other Sith ( _pureblood,_ of course) straightened, watching their approach. Before they had time to react, Nairoim pushed past, bending over the stone dais. 

The Sith extinguished their lightsaber, watching as Nairoim examined the stone. "I believe I've seen you before. Zash's apprentice, right?" Nairoim only grunted in reply—though it could easily have been a noise of exertion, as they pushed aside the stone covering. Incredibly, the Sith kept talking. "I'm jealous. She seems like a great deal more fun than Baras. I started training with him about the same time you started with Zash, I’d guess.” They tilted their head, long hair falling back to reveal a second eye lined with immaculate gold lashes. “My name is Kyllinan, by the way."

"Great," Nairoim said shortly. 

Kyllinan raised their eyebrows. "That's a rather odd name."

 _That's_ _—_ Nairoim actually paused what they were doing to glare at Kyllinan. "Hilarious." They stared at them for another solid second, nose wrinkled in disgust, before reaching down to retrieve the artifact from inside the cracked stone, giving it only a cursory glance before dropping it in the bag at their waist. "Don't you have your _own_ work to do?"

"Of course. Further into the ruins, though. But I expect you're going that way too, aren't you?"

"Possibly." Nairoim gave them a suspicious glance. "What is it to you?"

"It occurs to me that we could work together," they said. "Much as I enjoy mindless bloodshed, slaughtering the creatures in these tombs is tedious work, and two people could get it done a lot faster." Kyllinan spread their hands in a wide gesture like a question. "What do you say?"

"I can manage just fine on my own," Nairoim said, and began walking towards the right tunnel.

Kyllinan followed, a few paces behind. "We're literally going in the same direction."

"Just stay out of my way," Nairoim spat.

They progressed like that for a few minutes, Nairoim ahead, Kyllinan trailing behind. When the tunnel opened up into another circular room, Kyllinan held back a moment, watching to see where Nairoim was headed. As they hesitated, there was movement from above, and several Shyracks detached themselves from the ceiling, aiming for Nairoim. Nairoim's head came up, too slowly, but Kyllinan was already moving, lightsaber extended as they leapt into the air, slicing through the nearest beast with one clean sweep. They landed, catlike, on their feet, grinning at Nairoim as the Shyrack hit the floor ahead of them. "You're welcome," Kyllinan said, igniting their second blade with an unnecessarily flashy twirl.

Nairoim gave them a sour look. "Am I supposed to be impressed?" The other Shyracks, which had scattered after Kyllinan's initial hit, were returning now, and Nairoim reached out a hand, force-lightning sparking through the air and through the closest beast's body, sending it convulsing to the ground. As they stabbed one end of their double-bladed saber through its head, Kyllinan polished off the other in two quick sweeps.

"2-1!" Kyllinan called, already continuing down the passageway.

Nairoim's head whipped up, brows narrowing in indignation. "3-2 to me!" they retorted, sullen silence forgotten as they strode after Kyllinan. "Or have you already forgotten the beasts in the entrance?"

"Are you willing to tell me your name, yet?" Kyllinan said, by way of answer.

Nairoim scowled at them. "Don't Sith take on _new_ names, anyway?"

"If you're planning on making _Darth_ today, maybe." Kyllinan gave them a contemplative look as they fell into step. "You're one of the slaves they brought in, aren't you? I suppose you wouldn't know... any of that."

Nairoim stiffened, their glare taking on a deadly edge. "I'm not a _slave,"_ they hissed.

"Alright," Kyllinan shrugged, "I won't tell." They walked in silence for a moment, faint sounds of fighting echoing down the tunnels; they could feel Nairoim's eyes on them, words waiting to be said.

Nairoim watched them a moment longer, jaw tightly clenched. "Nairoim," they finally said.

"Nice to meet you," Kyllinan said with a satisfied smile.

Nairoim gave them a piercing look before turning their gaze forward once more.

They fought their way further through the narrow passages, occasionally branching out into wider intersections doitted with small altars of various purposes. They also passed a few other apprentices as they went—a couple humans, and later another pureblood, each heading in different directions. But Nairoim still seemed to be heading the same way as Kyllinan, so they continued together, ever deeper through the shadowy depths.

"Did you get any lightsaber training before you started with Zash?" Kyllinan asked, watching as Nairoim smashed the last of several Tuk'ata against the stone wall. "You favour the Force to a ridiculous degree."

"From who?" Nairoim shot, "merchants? No one wants to arm—" _a slave,_ they almost said, but the words stuck in their throat, despite Kyllinan's easy guess earlier at just that fact.

If Kyllinan noticed their hesitation, they didn't bring attention to it. "Not even with a pole?" they added. 

"No. Just fists and feet in the ring," Nairoim said—though they were starting to feel like they were giving away information best kept to themself. "I'm not weak. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of my force-lightning."

"No, probably not," Kyllinan agreed. "I'm not planning on killing you, by the way," they added, and Nairoim glanced at them sharply, "you can let go of your saber." Nairoim's hand only clenched more tightly on the metal handle. "Or, don't," they shrugged. "You're new around here, so let me put it this way: I'm Military, you're _Ancient Artifacts_. If I wanted to kill my way to the top, you wouldn't fit anywhere _near_ the path to take me there. Unless Baras tells me to off you, we have no reason to fight each other."

"All Sith want to kill each other," Nairoim said flatly.

Kyllinan gave an abrupt laugh. "Well. You're not _completely_ wrong. But there's alliances, too, or we'd just keep killing each other until there were none of us left."

"I suppose," Nairoim said cautiously. They glanced at Kyllinan sidelong, mouth pursed in a weighted look. "Are you suggesting an... alliance?"

"I am," Kyllinan said simply. "What do you say? You're a fairly impressive fighter, and I'm rather good myself. These trials will go much more smoothly with someone to watch the other's back."

Nairoim watched as Kyllinan held out a hand. _They... have a point,_ Nairoim thought. _Besides, I don't need to_ completely _trust them to make use of their skills._ "Fine," Nairoim said, giving Kyllinan's hand a brief shake. "For now."

"Good enough for me," Kyllinan said.


End file.
